Home > Staff > Gender & Diversity
IWMI management together with
Human Resources is making steady progress against targets
set out in the 2004-2008 Strategic Plan, to further strengthen
the Institute’s gender and diversity
balance. IWMI was the proud recipient of the staffing goals award
at the CGIAR Annual General Meeting in Morocco during December
2005, one of the three center-of-the-year awards announced by
the G&D Program.
Staff
Following a recruitment drive in the last quarter of 2005, IWMI
offered contracts to 14 researchers/post-doctoral scientists in
various disciplines, of which eight offers were made to female
researchers/post-docs.
IWMI’s goal as set out in
its 2004-2008 strategic plan is to have 50% of its researchers
from the South. This we have achieved and also maintained over
the past several years. IWMI has also shown progress since 2002
in its gender balance. The percentage of female researchers has
increased from 24% in 2002 to 31% in 2006 (20 to 36 in absolute
numbers) and the number of female researchers (both IRS (internationally
recruited) and RRS (regionally recruited) has increased from
23% in 2002 to 34% in 2006 (15 to 34 in absolute numbers).
Policies and Practices
IWMI has over the past few years
put in place several policies and procedures which support gender
and diversity. IWMI’s
HR department along with the G&D Associates, work closely
with the CGIAR G&D Program to ensure IWMI’s policies
are in line with best practice. Two IWMI staff spouses, one based
in Colombo and the other based in Ghana, have been engaged under
the spouse employment policy since its implementation in early
2005. In addition to the several existing family friendly policies
(flexi time, telecommuting, etc.,) Management decided to make
available crèche facilities to assist IWMI staff members
with the care of their children. This decision was taken after
carrying out a survey among staff based in Sri Lanka to ascertain
the actual need for such a facility. The crèche will be
run by a committee comprising voluntary representatives from
staff members/parents whose children plan to use the crèche.
These family friendly policies and practices should further assist
us in increasing our gender and diversity initiatives.
GDA Training
IWMI’s 27 G&D Associates, appointed on a voluntary basis,
represent all IWMI locations and the group composition is highly
diverse - 8 male and 19 female; 12 NRS (nationally recruited staff)
and 15 IRS/RRS; 11 research/research support staff and 16 non-research
staff. A training program focused on G&D issues including harassment
and discrimination is planned for a focal group of the GDAs in
2006. This will equip the GDAs with knowledge, tools and resources
to assist and contribute positively towards ensuring IWMI is an
inclusive workplace.
Second Mentoring Program
The second round of the G&D
mentoring program at IWMI concluded in October 2005 and the third
round that commenced prior to the completion of the second round,
is still on-going. The objective of this program is to provide
structured development input to young staff members by more senior
staff members as mentors.
The feedback received from the 10 mentees and 7 mentors on the
second round, was positive. Six of the mentees were from regional
offices (Tashkent, South Africa and Ghana) and one mentor was from
another center (ILRI).
IWMI Leadership development program (IWMI LDP)
IWMI LDP is a two-year training
intervention where high potential staff across the institute and
in particular young male/female staff members from country offices
are identified, and inputs through formal courses and close mentoring
by senior staff is provided to facilitate their accelerated growth
within the organization. The program helps break down barriers,
demonstrate mobility across the national-regional-international
divides, and thereby contribute to the "one-staff" objective
as well as to develop leadership skills at all levels across the
organization.
As a result of the highly successful
first LDP program, IWMI LDP-2 comprising 12 mentees (along with
4 mentors) commenced with an induction module in March 2005 followed
by two 4-day training courses, one focused on ‘team-building’ and the other on ‘managerial
styles and organizational climates’ in August 2005 and February
2006 respectively. The group composition is highly diverse – 6
women and 6 men, 8 researchers and 4 non-research staff, 4 NRS
staff and 8 RRS/IRS staff.
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